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In a lecture published Monday, Robert Zoellick, a former Bush Administration official and a current senior Romney campaign figure, had this to say on U.S. foreign policy:

Journalists and commentators expound about wars and rumors of wars, political leaders and upheavals, human rights and duties to intervene, missiles and their defense. All serious and important topics. But how about a question on the eurozone crisis that threatens the integration of Europe, one of the 20th century’s greatest security-policy achievements and America’s closest ally and partner? What about America’s connections to growth in East Asia, where economics is the coin of the realm? The reply is that these topics concern economics, not foreign policy!”

Perhaps Romney didn’t get the memo from the man he has tapped to lead his national security transition team, because the candidate’s Virginia Military Institute speech was devoted almost entirely to wars, upheavals and missiles, without a word on the eurozone crisis or on East Asian economic growth. Instead, he focused on the Middle East, delivering a broad critique of the incumbent. Despite similarities on many or most of the key policy issues, it would be a mistake to dismiss Mitt Romney‘s foreign policy as the status quo repackaged in Reaganesque rhetoric. There are substantial differences between the president and his challenger, even if they’re neither as stark, nor as numerous, as the Romney camp would have voters believe.

Allies and adversaries in world capitals reviewing Romney’s speech would have sensed a sharp change in the tone of U.S. foreign policy, replacing Obama’s cautious, sometimes halting and largely improvisational retreat from the unsustainable military commitments of the George W. Bush-era, with a new narrative stressing confidence, clarity of purpose, and resolve. “It is the responsibility of our President to use America’s great power to shape history — not to lead from behind, leaving our destiny at the mercy of events,” Romney told the VMI cadets. “Unfortunately, that is exactly where we find ourselves in the Middle East under President Obama.”

But declarations of intent and determination aside, Romney offered only a handful of specific policy changes. Curiously enough, he avoided mentioning his stump-speech standard threat to declare China a currency manipulator in order to restore U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. His only mention of the Middle Kingdom, in fact, was a passing reference to its “recent assertiveness sending chills” throughout Asia. Instead, he made his stand against Obama in the Middle East, which he said was in the throes of an epic struggle between liberty and tyranny that demanded U.S. leadership . Vowing a change of course, he nonetheless avoided specific policy changes to shape the increasingly complex historical forces unleashed by the Arab spring.

While highlighting the threat posed by the extreme salafists that stormed U.S. embassies, he gave no indication of how he would relate to their primary rivals, the mainstream Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood movement elected in Egypt and Tunisia. And while he blamed President Obama’s “abrupt withdrawal of our entire troop presence” for the increasingly grim situation in Iraq, he neglected to mention that said withdrawal occurred on the basis of an agreement negotiated in 2008 by the Bush Administration, and that it was the choice of a democratically elected Iraqi government to decline an agreement to extend their mission.

The alternative policy route, if there is one, certainly wasn’t spelled out. Indeed, much of the speech laid out U.S. goals in tough terms, without offering much by way of specifics. On Afghanistan, Romney seemed to hedge his bets, on the one hand vowing to “pursue a real and successful transition to Afghan security forces by the end of 2014,” the Obama goal he has previously supported, while bashing Obama for committing to “a politically timed retreat that abandons the Afghan people to … extremists”. He even castigated Obama for suggesting that staying beyond 2014 was to commit to open-ended war, vowing to make his decisions based on “conditions on the ground” and “the best advice of our military commanders.” Generals’ advice will depend on the goal they’re set, and conditions on the ground are such that the Taliban threat won’t be eliminated or contained by 2014.

Tony Karon is a senior editor at TIME, where he has covered international conflicts in the Middle East, Asia, and the Balkans since 1997. A native of South Africa, he now resides with his family in Brooklyn, New York.

Who is ansane is Hussein Obama. He has never faced a challenge to his narrative. The media - ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, AP, etc - are Obama's first line of defense. Without the Media and his telepromptor, he was totally lost in the deabte. Obama has achieved the high debt and high Gas price as he had predicted. He is nearing hs goal of getting Gas up to $8 per gallon just like he predicted.

only a racist would claim that half white is not black ... cause people who really aren't racist wouldn't care at all. So, that gives you away right there already. Note that under US law, 1/4 of black, makes you black. So do not give me BS.

JS calls the president by the appellation of "Hussein Obama".

No decent American citizen with decent respect for the Presidency and the American institutions would have such level of disrespect of the person and office of the President. Only an individual driven by ethnic hate, that is a racist, would be willing to insult his own institution, cause onlyu such indivdual is willing to destroy his own country just to see the race he hate fail.

So, there you go, this is not about opinion, this is about using political dissent to hide racial discrimination

Was this supposed to be a great speech? It proved how clueless this man is in foreign affairs. With respect to Syria, he said we should support the rebels in coordination with our allies in the region. He further stated we should support those rebels who share our ideals and values. How do you identify them? A Gallup or Pew Poll? Who are the leaders of the rebellion? He went on to apply the same criteria in our relations with Egypt. So he is going to tell Egypt they should adopt US values if they are to receive aid? Who defines our values and ideals since the Democrats and Republicans cannot agree. Romney switched positions and stated he believes in a two state solution for Palestine and Israel. So he will be the great negotiator after insulting the Palestinians while embracing Netanyahu? How much credibility will he have in the Arab world? To blame the President for the attack on our consulate is really ugly politics. How was the President supposed to stop an attack by terrorists? There has been a lot of chatter about security. Our embassies and consulates cannot be protected from rockets fired from a distance. Romney stated the situation is worst in the Middle East since Obama became president. The President risked his entire presidency by going after bin-Laden in a foreign country without the knowledge or consent of that country. That took guts. He continues to ignore borders to go after al-Qaeda and other terrorist leaders. Does Romney honestly believe supporting dictators was good foreign policy and we should have never supported the Arab Spring? What is really scary – his choice for the VP slot is even more clueless.

America no longer has the military capability, the economic dominance, nor the will, nor even the desire, to shape the world in its image. America's focus, as it should be, is on the construction of a post-Great Recession nation. Every candidate should pay close attention to the traction of domestic issues, and the lack of traction of foreign policies and adventures.

Romney is just blowing smoke up our assses. I mean Obama's Middle East policy is perfect. The Middle East is burning, Iran is close to nukes, our best (or only) ally in the area has been alienated by Obama and he's too busy having has fund raisers, campaigning, going on The View with Whoopi and the gang and playing golf to pay any attention. What could possibly get better.

Mitt Romney's foreign policy speech has made many people uncomfortable. Not because he advocated anything new or earth shaking but because he failed to convince how he would commit his presidency with borrowed advisers from George W Bush.

History tells us that his entire two term presidency was full of making more problems in the Middle East than solving US National Security.

For some odd reasons, Barack Obama carried Bush strategy in Afghanistan with additional 30,000 troops and was blamed from both Democratic and Republican party critics.

Not keeping sufficient military advisers in Iraq was not Barack Obama's fault. Nouri AlMaliki, wouldn't budge.

It is a dangerous place for our troops to remain for a target practice.

I'm tired of all these wars America has been fighting. America should indeed use its great power to shape history, but instead of returning to a Bush-styled preemptive militaristic slaughter of imagined enemies in the Middle-East, how about if we stick with Obama's (slightly) more congenial method of attempted negotiations amp; consultations? Obama clearly has the edge--he spent part of his childhood in Indonesia. Obama will kill if necessary, but he prefers to negotiate. I agree with Obama. We had the world's sympathy after 9/11, but GOP hawks turned the entire planet against us. Mind you, war makes big money for big companies--so there are many who would welcome a return to Bush's "might-makes-right" philosophy. Romney is apparently one of them.

The reality is that Romney is living in the past! The middle east has changed for ever and US dominance is a thing of the past. Islamists in many of the Governments are not going to make it easy for the US or Israel. Calling Obama soft on this matter is naive. Two wars, meant to show US military power, have produced very little. Using US power in Syria or Iran will be a disaster. Hopefully, Romney will not have this chance

Democratic Party has a proud heritage in America. Almost everything that is good for Middle America and the poor, were causes championed by Democrats! Democrats passed Social Security, Medicare, the Civil Rights Act, and Voting Rights for every single American; the New Deal after the Great Depression, The Family Medical Leave Act, the G. I. Bill (which helped establish a solid middle class) and Equal Pay for Equal Work.

This is OUR story; one every Democrat should be proud of.

Democrats understand that all citizens, regardless of economic status, merit the opportunity to achieve their God given potential. We believe that everyone who works hard and plays by the rules deserves a life with dignity and that a catastrophic health event should not wipe out a lifetime, or generations of savings. Democrats know that the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness apply to everyone regardless of gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs or sexual orientation. We do not believe that life begins at conception and ends at birth. We know the difference between a hand up and a hand out; helping our neighbors instead of bail outs for Wall Street.At virtually every point in time over the last sixty years when America made progress Democrats made it happen. And not only did Democrats make it happen they did it over Republican opposition and with many Republicans yelling “socialist.” It was Rep. Sam Rayburn former Speaker of the House, who once responded to these GOP rants saying, “It’s not socialism, it’s applied Christianity.”

As Democrats we believe that a country as blessed as America, who can spend untold trillions on war and instruments of destruction and policing the world and rebuilding nations, should be able to help America’s very own middle class and our poor in their struggle to find work for all who can do it, fair wages, the right to bargain, shelter for the homeless, health care and a safety net for our elderly, our veterans, our children, the infirmed and hope for the destitute.

We also believe everyone, including Corporations, Wall Street and the top 1% should pay their fair share rather than taking from the taxpayers’ treasury and leaving the tax burden to everyone else. We know the U.S. Government is not evil and that taxes are not evil, but are a tool necessary to provide Americans with necessary services, safety and infrastructure commensurate with the greatest nation on earth.

Democrats believe in providing America’s young people with education and affordable higher learning, investing in America’s decaying infrastructure and all forms of energy including solar and wind because we know children are our greatest investment and we know of the importance of adopting to change in the 21st century.

The flip side of the Democratic Party’s proud record is a shameful tale as Republicans opposed and continue to oppose every single benefit enjoyed by generations of Americans.

Republican oppose Medicare and want to give a ‘voucher’ which would destroy access to health care and prescription drugs for our seniors and the disabled and yet charge another $6,000 per year for health care.

Republicans have been successful in cutting funding for education and increasing tuition, shipping US jobs overseas and giving tax credits to those companies that do. Republican led states have cut Medicaid, funding for children’s’ health care, Head start and demonized state workers and public unions, which causes many American families a lack of substantive economic capacity. Republicans continue to oppose increases in minimum wages, equal pay for women, equal rights for taxpayers while systematically taking away the right of Americans to vote.

They have cut services to disabled veterans and family protective services and have declared an unholy war on America women by doing away with family planning and basic medical services which will result in more abortions and more undiagnosed diseases, both of which are fiscally and physically stupid.

They oppose updating America’s transportation system, have continuously failed at job creation and have no plans to move this country into the 21st century choosing instead to return to the days of the oil barons and create a society run by the wealthy, having taxpayers subservient to their every greedy need.

Republicans have successfully played on peoples’ fears of things different from themselves. They have turned working families against each other; public against private; White against Black against Brown; straight against gay; Protestant against Catholic against Jew against Muslim against, against, against. Republicans are anti-immigrant, anti-worker, anti-health care, anti-women, anti-Hispanic, anti-education, anti-union, and the list goes on and on. Many Americans are acutely aware that Republicans use code words and symbols that demonize, scapegoat and stereotype minorities. They threaten, engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric and then claim to be ‘patriots’.

Republicans say they want a balanced budget, yet they created 85% of our national debt. They have bailed out Wall Street, sold out Main Street and created the greatest income disparity between the rich who bribe them and middle class working families since the industrial revolution. Their economic policies have virtually bankrupted both the states and the nation, destroyed generations of earnings and threatened the economic security of every American family. They have done all this while claiming to be the party of fiscal responsibility and they continue to get away with it. Their deception is palpable as they say they want clean air but they do everything to pollute it, they say they want clean water but they do everything they can to contaminate it, they say they want education but they will not fund it, they say they care about seniors but they want to take away their Medicare, they say they want to end dependency on foreign oil, yet oppose alternative sources of energy.

In 2012, Democrats, Progressives and Independents must be aggressive in telling the truth, standing up for the ideals that sustain every American man, woman and child in order to preserve this great nation.

We must stand up and be proud of the legacy of our heroes such as FDR, JFK and LBJ; those unsung American who fought for benefits that every taxpaying citizen deserves. Whether some Americans believe it or not, real and true Democratic values will save even those who seek to destroy them.americaforpurchase.com

Obama has been at the White House for 4 years and the country is in dire situation. Wealth destruction, foreign policy in disarray, Ambassador getting killed, high unemployment, gas at $4 per gallon and rising, college graduates not getting jobs, etc. Obama knows only one thing - Redistribution of wealth. NOT wealth creation or job creation.

Most of Romney's foreign policy advisers (16 of the 24) are Neo-cons who advised the Bush administration. Romney said that withdrawing from Iraq was a "tragedy", that we should have kept troops there. He's also said that the war in Afghanistan should be open-ended, that no date should be set for withdrawal.

Obama inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression from Bush, the Republican you voted into office. Bush created the awful economic mess, the massive unemployment, not Obama.

Every administration going back to James Madison's has paid the price for intelligence failures. Tragically, an intelligence failure led to the death of our ambassador to Libya and three others.

It doesn't help that America's status throughout the world was at its lowest ebb in history by the end of the Bush administration. Invading Iraq to search for non-existent weapons of mass destruction? (Now, there's an intelligence failure of epic proportion!)

The price of gasoline is set by international market forces of supply and demand. The price has risen because of increased demand in Asia.

Romney wants to bring the Keystone pipeline on line prematurely before its safely re-routed to avoid threatening an aquifer on which a million people and thousands of farmers rely. Romney would ignore environmental risks and "drill baby, drill", speeding up oil lease authorizations in the Gulf of Mexico despite the Deepwater Horizon disaster and authorizing a massive drilling campaign in the environmentally vulnerable Arctic region. But according to most economists, the impact of Romney's environmentally risky policy would have no more than a "miniscule" impact on gasoline prices!

The tax system is by far the most powerful redistributive tool the government has at its disposal. And today the tax system is the most regressive its been in fifty years! The tax burden on the wealthiest members of society is the lightest it's been in 50 years! How are we supposed to pay down the deficit when those most capable of paying more in taxes are those who are paying less than their fair share? Bullocks! Both candidates say we need tax reform. Only Obama has promised to protect the middle class and raise taxes on those earning more than $250,000.

Romney is a tool. He's a tool for big business. He's a tool for the military/industrial complex. He's a tool for the zionists that control Israel.

You want an economy based on warmongering and death, Romney's your man.

Because you can bet our military will be sent into various places around the Middle East to terraform it according to the wishes of his zionist masters and their "New World Order".

And you so called Christians are helping them to do it. Because you believe what you've been told about modern day Israel. It's their intention to create a wide buffer zone around the country. Guess who's military will be suckered into doing it?

Romney's a shameless liar who will say anything to get elected. He doesn't really care about this country, otherwise he wouldn't insult everyone by making so many abrupt turnarounds and false statements. He just wants to get elected. Why?

Romney is talking tough thinking that voters who seem to be criticizing Obama's policies. It was Bush who jumped into the warmongering initiatives. Obama is trying to get unleashed and obviously that looks like adopting a weak policy. In fact Obama and Romney need to go back in history to find the real reason of the conflicts in the Middle Muslim world. The real reason is the historic animosity between two Muslim sects, Shias and Sunnis. It is more like a family feud. When the west entered the arena for prospecting the liquid gold they virtually stepped into the family feud. Knowingly or otherwise the west played one sect against another and in the bargain have become enemies of both. Sunnis who are more in numbers are the radicalized group. They have found that their radical stance has been instrumental in inflicting deep wounds not only in the Muslim world but even across continents. They obviously want the west to get out of their arena so that they can totally subjugate the Shias. It is in pursuit of this that they are inflicting wounds in other countries. the only way to deal with this menace is for the west, especially the US to quit the Muslim world and allow the sects to settle their dispute, may be similar to the Arab Spring or an inter state conflicts. Within a couple of years we can hope for a new Muslim world who can be readmitted into the peace loving group of nations. The fear of the dirty war is just an obsession, since no one will venture into a nuclear offense, since it will surely lead to total self destruction. The Sunnis are clever enough to understand this.

Some are blinded by ideology and pursue policies that are not for the common good.

For example, send entire industries to foreign nations to make a few more bucks without thinking of long term effect on our economy and people. The board accomplishments of our government far over shadow the weaknesses.

During his foreign policy speech yesterday (September 8), Romney made extravagants statements, some of which will blow a cavaneous hole in the deficit. He said that should he ever become President, he would build 50 warships every year--that means 200 in a four year Presidency and 400 in eight. Amazing statement indeed! Voters, journalists and lawmakers have a right to ask now: Is Romney interested at all in reducing the deficit? What new wars will Romney start that would involve not just the cost of these ships but much more cost to American lives and treasury? What indeed would all these cost, including cost to America's reputation abroad? What impact on domestic programs, including education, social security, etec.? This man who has never enlisted in any war--no member of his family has-- is going to take us down the path of reckless militarism as George W. did--even worse. AMERICANS, THINK! iT IS NOT about slick debate and speeches. Look at policies and how it would affect you individually and the nation. THINK!

Bottom lines for America: (1) It is easy to criticize the strategy, but its very nature was such that it prevented Americans from ever seeing what could have happened to them had such a plan not been pursued. (2) It is not wise to show weakness in a world which suffers from an excess of clinical psychopaths running extremist countries and terror organizations.The strategy pursued by George W.

Bush was a strategy of deterrence, which was designed to, and did successfully,

enlist through threat, the most powerful and qualified individuals on the

planet to suppress any further terror incidents on American soil. Who did he

enlist and what was the threat?

Very simple. He enlisted those most

qualified to identify, control and suppress further terror incidents and

terrorists. Who? The then existing lineup of Middle East dictators. What was

the threat? The exact threat which was demonstrated: "You took two of our

buildings in New York, we'll take two of your countries in the Middle East...let's

see...how about Iraq and Afghanistan. Done. Now, who'd like to be next?"

That was the highly brutal, and

100% effective strategy, which kept further terror incidents from occurring on

American soil after the strategy was launched. The strategy was "sold"

to Americans based on cooked evidence, to be sure. Whenever one hears an artful

new term like "weapons of mass destruction" being used, one can be

assured that term was created for marketing/selling purposes.

Did the strategy flout

international law? Most likely. As did the 9/11 terror attacks on America. Did

the strategy succeed. Certainly.

Vast amounts of illegal drugs --

barges full of the stuff by all accounts -- enter America each year, and all of

PRElection - Predict the Election! PRElection is a free app that lets you vote for President and all 468 House and Senate seats. Real people, real votes. Current: Romney 51, Obama 45. www.PRElectionApp.combit.ly/PRElection

Someone close to Romney should tell him that sending his money to the Cayman Islands and investing in Chinese companies does not him him a foreign policy expert. This quote from Adlai Stevenson describes Romney perfectly: " He is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump for a speech on conservation."

People like you who would vote for a patholigical used car salesman like Romney are what's wrong with this country. Electing someone like him will have grave consequences for generations because of the power the president has to appoint supreme court justices. Sure, let Romney pick 'em. It'll only mean another decade or so of uninterrupted corporate influence on American politics.

Your source of information is Obama's speeches which go unchallenged and misleading. In the debate, Obama was completely exposed and he did not have ABC, CBS, MSNBC etc to be the first line of defense. Obama had no idea how to defend his positions, therefore he had nothing to say. If any thing, Obama was caught lying about Romney's position. Obama offered no vision or course of action he wants to implement in the next 4 years. Just continue with the old policies which has given no benefit to the Country.

During the swansong summer of Bush gas rose above $5 in some places, we were involved in two unfounded out of budget wars, the banks were failing, some insurance companies were failing, the car industry was failing and 800,000 people per month were being laid off, yes thats right 800,000.

Now gas is high butlower than $5, we are out of one war, we have shored up the banks and insurance. The car companies are ok, and 100,000 per month are finding work.

So yes we are better off under the 'amateurs' than the 'professionals'

Mitt is not advocating that the US should lead, but that he can be led to ignore Israel’s continuing colonization of East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Both Romney and Obama’s Israel Palestine policy is one of conflict management; not about seeking a just peace.

Regarding foreign aid, Romney said he "will make it clear to the recipients of our aid that in return for our material support, they must meet the responsibilities of every decent modern government.

Israel has received the greatest amount of U.S. foreign aid of any other state, but it does NOT respect the rights of all of its citizens-the 1.4 million 'Arab Israelis' and the 4 million Palestinians in the occupied territories.

Unlike Mitt, Obama and all of Congress this candidate for US HOUSE who is seeking a Just Peace has actually been to Israel AND occupied Palestine seven times since 2005, and as I responded to the Orlando based HERITAGE FLORIDA JEWISH NEWS......